Chapter 496: Cross-Dimensional Cooperation

Learning that Chu Men was the livestream viewer Master Hypnotist Fantasy, I relaxed. He practically counted as an old friend. "What's the question?"

"Are you alone every time you stream?" Chu Men looked at me with deep interest. "I'm far more interested in seeing the team behind you than in you personally. To produce a show like this, and even use mass hypnosis to broadcast from within a dream... it's unbelievable."

"You want to see the streaming platform I work for?" I couldn't help but laugh. "Trust me, if you ever actually see it, you'll be too terrified to even cry."

Chu Men and I chatted a bit more about dreams. Many of our views perfectly aligned, and we had a great conversation.

We headed toward the ward. Before we even reached it, I spotted Doctor Yan standing anxiously outside the VIP room. He hurried over the moment he saw Chu Men. "Teacher, all the dishes have been served. How could you just leave like that? Elder Chen and Director Huang are still waiting. It isn't right for you to just skip out."

"Don't wait up. You guys eat first. Oh, and just order two random takeout meals and have them sent straight to the ward. I need to have a detailed discussion with this gentleman about the treatment plan." Chu Men pushed past Doctor Yan and made to enter the room.

"Teacher, Elder Chen isn't like those other people. We can't just snub him; we have to show him some respect!" Doctor Yan pleaded earnestly. He couldn't muster even a shred of temper toward this teacher who was younger than himself.

Chu Men paused at the door. Just as Doctor Yan fully believed his teacher was going to change his mind, the man waved him off. "Forget the takeout. Order some good dishes and put it on my tab. Also, unless there's an emergency tonight, do not enter the ward. You know my treatment habits."

Doctor Yan, who had just stepped forward, was shoved aside by Chu Men once again. He watched his teacher politely gesture for me to enter.

This blatant difference in treatment made even me feel a bit embarrassed. "I'm afraid I'll be troubling you a lot tonight. You're the doctor—after you."

"The most capable is the teacher. You go first."

Watching the polite, tall, and skinny man at the door, Doctor Yan pinched his own thigh hard. Was this really the same Doctor Chu with the foul, stubborn temper?

Even when upper management visited, Chu Men never gave them a pleasant look. Yet upon casually bumping into a patient's ex-boyfriend in the hospital, he became this courteous? Had he saved up half a lifetime of manners just to spend it all on this one day?

Doctor Yan felt completely dissatisfied, but he had nowhere to voice his complaints. He shot me a covert glance, then turned around to go prepare the food.

"Streamer, although Little Yan isn't very professional and has poor skills, he is at least fairly obedient normally." If anyone else heard Chu Men's words, they would probably be scared half to death. Doctor Yan was a renowned expert in his field, personally invited by Elder Chen. Yet this very same renowned doctor only earned an evaluation of "isn't very professional and has poor skills" from Chu Men.

"Don't call me Streamer when outsiders are around. Let's not expose my identity. My name is Gao Jian. You're older than me, so just call me Little Gao." I walked into the VIP ward with Chu Men. The room had already been completely rearranged.

All the useless decorations had been cleared out, leaving only three hospital beds lined up side by side.

Ye Bing lay in the middle. Of the two beds flanking hers, the left one was piled high with various complex machines, while the right one was completely empty.

...

After dinner, Chu Men called Elder Chen, Doctor Yan, and Jiang Fei together. He solemnly instructed them not to interrupt the treatment under any circumstances; the entire process required absolute silence.

Doctor Yan knew Chu Men's treatment habits, so he didn't say much, but Teacher Chen curiously asked for the reason.

In response, Chu Men rattled off a massive pile of professional jargon regarding psychological suggestion, neurology, and hypnosis. The barrage left Teacher Chen completely bewildered, reduced to simply nodding along without the faintest clue how to reply.

At around nine o'clock, the VIP ward was finally set up according to Chu Men's demands. Two heavy locks were added to the door, ensuring it could only be opened from the inside. The exterior windows were specially covered with opaque black cloth. Nobody outside would have any idea what was happening within the room.

Right now, the only people left in the ward apart from the comatose Ye Bing were Chu Men and me. He pointed at the empty bed on the right. "That bed is yours. I won't pry into your methods for entering dreams. If we're lucky, perhaps we'll meet inside."

"What do you mean?" Honestly, even now, I only had a half-baked understanding of Chu Men's treatment plan.

He waved a thick stack of documents, dropping his nonchalant facade. "I got this file from Elder Chen. It records everything Ye Bing experienced in her childhood. Aside from the five blank years she spent abroad, the majority of her life trajectory is mentioned here. You should read it before going under; it might help you inside. After all, the Shallow Dream Layer and the Middle Dream Layer are both constructed from the subject's core memories."

I nodded and accepted the file. Chu Men continued, "Tonight, I will use a set of tools I developed myself to try and enter the patient's dreamscape. According to my research, this equipment has a thirty percent success rate for entering the Shallow Dream Layer, and a 1.9 percent chance of reaching the Middle Dream Layer. That probability is actually already terrifyingly high."

"Wait." I raised a hand, cutting him off. "From what you're saying, this so-called treatment plan of yours is just entering Ye Bing's dream, finding her main consciousness, and bringing it out?"

"Yes. It's the only method I could think of." Chu Men flashed a wide grin at me. "I know you're planning the exact same thing. Going in alone carries an extreme amount of risk for me, but it'll be different with your cooperation. The Shallow Dream Layer won't pose any difficulty, and we might even be able to brave the Middle Dream Layer."

"But how am I supposed to find you in the dream?" During the last stream, Sakurako and I had entered a dream together, only for the Sakurako beside me to actually be a transformation of the Primal Destiny Divine Fiends. If I hadn't realized it at the very last second, I would have been trapped in that nightmare forever.

"That's hard to say. The Dream Realm could be massive, or it could be very small. If we run into each other, we'll team up. If not, we'll split up and act independently. That will also increase our search efficiency." Chu Men waved me over. The two of us moved away from Ye Bing and stepped into the corner of the room. "We could encounter any kind of danger in the dream. It's even possible for either of us to be impersonated, so we need to come up with a secret signal."

"What kind of signal would be best?"

"Something that can't be easily imitated, yet can be done casually." Chu Men pulled a piece of paper from his pocket, scribbled a few words on it, and handed it to me. "Let's go with this."

My expression turned a bit strange. I gave a nod, pulled out a lighter, and immediately burned the paper to ashes.

"Destroying the evidence to erase all traces. Very professional."

"Right back at you."

After finalizing a few details, Chu Men went to prepare his tools. It was incredibly troublesome for him to enter a dream; not only did he have to rely on a massive amount of equipment, but he also had to enter a state of sleep himself.

He attached a series of wires to the top of Ye Bing's head, then placed a helmet-like device over his own. Securing his hands and feet in place, he lay down amidst the massive pile of complex machinery. "I'm going to sleep now. Come help me flip the switches."

"That sounds so weird." Following Chu Men's instructions, I flipped the switches one by one, then stood to the side.

"Do not touch those switches again during the entire process. If the machines fail, my consciousness will very likely be trapped in the patient's dream, completely unable to return." Chu Men gave his final warnings, then began muttering something under his breath, seemingly starting his self-hypnosis.

"Let's hope there aren't any accidents." I drew the curtains. Not rushing to start the stream, I meticulously inspected every corner of the ward. Only after confirming there were no hidden surveillance or pinhole cameras did I lie down on my own bed, pick up the stack of documents, and begin reading.

The majority of these files were provided by Elder Chen. They recorded Ye Bing's childhood, her schooling experiences, and the various honors she had achieved.

"The earliest document is from when Ye Bing was six or seven years old. There's nothing before that? How strange. Why isn't there a single shred of information about Ye Bing's parents?" As far as I could tell, this thick stack of files was completely useless. It was all highly official, superficial data.

I continued reading patiently, my eyes slowly narrowing as I gradually made a discovery. In every single group photo of Ye Bing within the files, there was a specific boy in the background. And that boy's expression was incredibly eerie.